Jolly LLB 2 Review: Being a Law Student I Left, Feeling Empowered and Inspired

Written and directed by Subhash Kapoor, Jolly LLB 2 is a dark comedy film which highlights the catastrophic state of the Indian judiciary, corrupted Administrative system, pitiful conditions of junior lawyers, merciless senior advocates blinded by power and money, and how lawyers’ chambers are a medium to mint money; acting as safe-houses to criminals rather than safeguarding justice.

A satire on the Indian Legal system, Jolly LLB 2 is a stirring story of a young, guilt-ridden lawyer, ‘Jagdishwar Mishra’ (Akshay Kumar), and his struggles to secure justice while fighting a fake-encounter case against one of the most powerful and influential senior lawyers ‘Promod Mathur’ (Annu Kapoor), in the court of a rather uncommon and comical Judge ‘Sunder Lal Tripathi’ (Saurabh Shukla).

This movie is a fine blend of emotions, intriguing performances, an engaging courtroom drama with a strong message to take back home in the end.

The very first scene manages to engage the audience and gain a positive response.

Establishing, that although Jolly is the part of the same rut; unethical and dishonest yet he has the smart mind and wit to be a lawyer.

To fulfil his dream, he finds out ways to own a chamber in his own name seeking to leave his senior’s office from where he has got nothing but disrespect (Highlighting how badly juniors who should be mentees of well-established senior advocates are treated as mere assistants).

After fooling a client, Jolly and his family is happy; fulfilling the dream of owning a chamber only to be followed with humiliation and later on guilt.

The story takes a high, in a rather emotional scene where the fooled client- an innocent ‘victim’ caught in the corrupt practices of the legal system – confronts Jolly about his dishonesty.

With a few dips in between, the story becomes highly engaging as the client takes away her life succumbing to her mental and emotional pain.

Remorse and melancholy takes over Jolly, and continues as the underlying emotion throughout the entire movie. Jolly takes upon himself the responsibility of securing justice to his client; bringing an end to the anticipation among the audience.

The screen play in the first half could have been a bit stronger. The film is pacey and with better editing and cinematography it would have been just perfect.

Songs which were being played at the drop of the hat could have been executed in a better way (if not totally avoided) ensuring the story doesn’t go off-track and the emotions remain intact throughout, which was missing in the first half.

The second half was impactful, as it showcased power-packed performances and applauds-worthy dialogues by actors. The character of ‘Huma Qureshi’ as the wife of Jolly was minimal and under-developed, and could have been shaped better.

The character of the Judge by ‘Saurabh Shukla’ was played exceptionally well, adding humour to rather serious criminal case proceedings, generating bits of laughter even in the murkiness of the courtroom.

‘Annu Kapoor’ was remarkable and entirely into his character of a ruthless and authoritative advocate who can go to any extent to prove his point.

There were scenes which depicted his character out rightly condemning the judges and righteously creating chaos in the courtroom, to which even the Judge’s “Order! Order!” was of no use.

As the case progresses, it becomes muddier and challenging. With the whole system being corrupt, there is no straight way for Jolly to prove his case. We see a lawyer turned into an investigator, with everything on stake, Jolly does all he can to win the case.

Though the truth about the case was already known to the audience yet the long dramatic proceedings, with stupendous dialogues and theatrics brought a lot of emotions at play.

It was highly interesting to see how new dimensions were added to it consistently keeping the viewers hooked till the end.

However, there were elements of suspense and thrill which could have been done away with, to keep the drama from being over-the-top.

The judge’s overwhelming verdict could move the audience to an extent that the intense emotions in the courtroom were mirrored in the cinema hall.

All in all, Jolly LLB 2 is a movie, which will show you the reality of the legal system, dirty politics behind law, but at the same time it will leave you with a message which comes effortlessly.

Perhaps not every heart behind the black coat is coloured, not every lawyer is blinded.

Being a law student I left, feeling empowered and inspired.

It made me wonder how it took enormous amount of guilt and bravery on the part of Jolly to actually take the file of ‘Hina Siddiqui’ out of the hundreds of files; come out of the rut and emerge victorious.

If Jolly wasn’t guilt-ridden would he have taken up this case ever?

While I am still pondering on that, I hope you are not pondering upon whether to go or not, to watch this movie.

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neha_2

4 Comments

Bangar

Well, It is a fantastic movie and I really loved it. The way things have been approached and depicted in the movie is outstanding. Needless to say each and every character pulled off things like the way it should have been.
Neha has described the whole movie in the best possible way. And i must say instead of getting deep into legal stuffs and exhibiting the court room intricacies which were not adhered to, we must appreciate the things which are comfortable keeping in mind the general public.
Had such strict approach been followed in munna bhai MBBS regarding medical field. I am sure many of us would have been in a fix…
Nehaaa you have done a brilliant job and I wish you all good luck
Keep writing such things…
Wohooooo

This is the second time they have not consulted a lawyer for a lawyer movie. Though bollywood should never be judged for their non-application of mind, yet there are things that should make sense. Even a first year law student knows the legal faults in the movie.
1. Firstly how can a PIL be instituted in District Court? District Court’s power is very limited under CPC and Cr.P.C.
2. In case it was a District Court why are you calling Mr. Tripathi Justice? It does not make sense. They are addressed as Ld.Judge.
3. And in case it was a High Court why in the world it would sit as trial court determining the guilt of the Accused. That is the job of the trial court. The correct course was filing PIL before High Court which would in turn direct the Sessions Court to try the matter after looking into the merits of the case.
4. Needless to mention that the terrorist who was brought in middle of the trial was not the principal accused. Therefore the court could not have possibly tried him along with other accused. He deserves separate trial on account of charges being different.
5. In case the court did wanted to make a combined trial, the accused (terrorist) is to be given proper opportunity of being represented by a different lawyer and a notice. He did not even have a public defender. And of course Annu Kapoor never filed Vakalatnama on his behalf.
6. Accused is also to be given opportunity as to oppose his combined trial. Bypassing all these things violates principle of natural justice and Cr.P.C.

Being a fan of Akshay Kumar because of his humble beginnings and because he indeed is a simple man, I tend to watch most of his movies first day first show. On a windy winter morning at 8 am, I was running around in Delhi to catch a show -and I do not regret it.

As a student of law, I must say the movie did have its lacunae, but the overall impact it leaves on the viewer cannot be ignored. The way Mishra dreams to become a successful lawyer, and wants to break the tag of a “munshi’s son” is really inspiring. Annu Kapoor is very good throughout the movie who feels because of his money and power, he can keep on hold even the highest officer of the court- the Hon’ble judge.
Saurabh Shukla has given us a flawless performance, with very hard hitting dialogues.

Overall, I think Neha has described the movie very well and akin to what I felt when I left the movie hall. She has been able to keep a balanced view, and has told us through her very beautifully intricate review, that the plot is worth the watch.

The movie was not as good as the as its sequel but hats off to Saurabh Shukla for continiuing his legacy as the single most interesting judge that our judiciary has (pun intended) and the wanna be Ram Jethmalani (Anu Kapoor), who also did a stupendous job. A bit dissapointed the The Khiladi, as i still think Arshad Warsi should be continued but overall, A well drafted, produced and thought off movie seeing our present n current judicial scenario at hand.

Last but certainly not the least, I want to congratulate and thank Neha Agarwal, my co-partner in crime from Delhi University’s Law college, a seasoned mooter, debater and with her antics can win over any amount heart. She has flourished throughout her movie review and feel proud n blessed at the same moment that someone had to break the ice on typing down this sad state of affairs that we are all plagued with. Thanx once again Neha. ‘Well Done’

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